Plural Truths?

Moshe Ben-Chaim

Reader: Dear Mesora,

Frankly, your Home Page is quite pedantic and need not be. To profess to be the sole voice on these matters as you have is often viewed by even those who are sympathetic as intolerant and puerile.

You need not say that you alone decide right from wrong. Why don't you say Mesora provides a perspective that shows the relevance of the Torah and Gemara in our quotidian lives? There will always be more than one interpretation of the scriptures and each generation finds its own relevance from the richness of Judaism. Freedom to discuss, reinterpret and find new meaning and relevance in Judaism is what has sustained us as a people for 3,000 years. It is our common story not our common beliefs that bind us together. When we pray we affirm that all of us came out of Egypt together not that we speak with one truth - in fact there are many.

Mesora: Your comments are not in line with reason, as the human mind sees something as true or false, or it admits ignorance. Our Sages exemplify this behavior. They did not subscribe to the opinion that there is plurality in truth. They in fact state emphatically their sides of arguments, many times deriding their opponent in debate. They did not say their opponent was also stating a truth.

If in fact you are true to you opinion, then you also must accept mine. But you see that will lead you to a contradiction, thereby showing internally that both sides cannot be correct.

For this very reason, I state on our homepage my intent to arrive at what I see as truth. Additionally, bringing in elements of our history and what keeps us together is irrelevant when deciding truth.